Sealing liquid

ABSTRACT

The invention concerns a sealing liquid comprising water and a penetration agent for sealing of mail pieces, the use of said sealing liquid as well as sealing devices and franking machines containing such a sealing liquid.

RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a divisional application of Ser. No.11/690,243, filed on Mar. 23, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,892,393, thecontents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a sealing liquid comprising water, inparticular for sealing mail pieces, and to the uses of such a sealingliquid as well as to letter sealing devices and franking machinescontaining such a sealing liquid.

Mail pieces (in particular letters) to be sent in large quantities arefor the most part automatically sealed and franked by the sender. Amongother things, sealing devices and franking machines are used for this,wherein both components are often connected with each other andsometimes form structural units. As an example, reference is made to thecitation DE 20 2004 011 390 U1.

In connection with the sealing of mail pieces whose sealing flaps areprovided with a gumming, it is necessary to wet the gumming before thesealing. For this a sealing liquid is (automatically) applied to thegumming. A plurality of technological problems are encountered in thesecontexts. On the one hand, the sealing liquid must sufficiently wet thegumming. Given an insufficient wetting, the sealing liquid will roll offand ultimately there will be no usable bonding is obtained. On the otherhand, the amount of sealing liquid applied to the gumming needs to bemeasured such that on the one hand the gumming adheres, however on theother hand an undesired washing-out or smudging of excessive sealingliquid on the mail piece envelope after sealing does not occur. Thelatter is important in particular for the prevention of washing-out orsmudging of water-sensitive inscriptions or imprints (such as frankingstamp imprints) on the mail piece or the mail pieces situated above orbelow. This has the consequence that the dosing of the sealing liquid isa critical property in the sealing process.

In addition to this, depending on the system sealing devices start withtoo much water when a sponge of the sealing device is filled with thesealing liquid upon activation of the sealing device. Only after astart-up number of sealed mail pieces does an equilibrium with regard tothe amount of sealing liquid contained in the sponge arise in thefurther (quasi-)continuous operation. As a result, at the beginning of aseries of sealings the dose of the sealing liquid will normally be toohigh since the equilibrium dosage would in turn be too low givenadjustment to an initially appropriate dosing. Particularly with thefirst mail pieces there therefore exists the significant danger of theexcess of sealing liquid, with the consequence of the danger ofwashing-out water-sensitive imprints such as franking stamp imprints.

Furthermore, it is problematic that in practice mail pieces (inparticular letters) whose mail piece envelopes or, respectively, letterenvelopes are made from paper materials with varying material propertiesare fed to a sealing device. Paper materials of a low density can thusbe significantly more absorbent than paper materials with high density.For a reliable and reproducible sealing of mail pieces with varyingpaper materials of the mail piece envelope as well, it would thereforebe necessary to dose the amount of sealing liquid according to therequirement of the pertaining paper material. Given a material with highabsorbency, a comparatively large quantity of sealing liquid would benecessary, since otherwise the sealing liquid would be absorbed quicklyand the bonding would not turn out to be sufficient. Given a material oflow absorbency, a comparatively small amount of sealing liquid would berequired since otherwise the sealing liquid would not be sufficientlyabsorbed and a washing-out and running of excessive sealing liquid wouldthreaten, with the disadvantageous effects described in the preceding.

Various sealing liquids are known from experience. These are aqueoussolutions that on the one hand can contain biocide and fungicide inorder to prevent the development of germ colonies and unpleasant odors.On the other hand, a wetting agent can be added. In practice, rinsingagent as a wetting agent is also added by users, for example.

The sealing liquids known insofar satisfy all the requirements since adosing suitable for all mail pieces, and in fact from the beginning,cannot be set in practice and, depending on the number and kind of themail pieces, a plurality of insufficient sealings and/or washing-outs isto be assumed.

Furthermore, in a different technical field (the production and sealingof cartons) gummed package tapes or, respectively, mounting tapes areused by means of which cartons are sealed or, respectively, fixed in theshape of a container. The application of these package tapes or,respectively, mounting tapes also often ensues in an automated manner,such that in principle the problems described in the preceding arise inthis field.

TECHNICAL PROBLEM OF THE INVENTION

The invention is therefore based on the technical problem to specify asealing liquid with which, given a defined dosage setting, all fed mailpieces can be sealed with improved reliability, and in fact right fromthe beginning.

MAIN FEATURES OF THE INVENTION AND PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

To solve this technical problem, the invention teaches a sealing liquidfor sealing of mail pieces, which sealing liquid contains water and apenetration agent.

A penetration agent is a substance, which leads to an absorption time ofthe sealing liquid in paper materials that is reduced relative to water,in particular by at least 10%, advantageously by at least 20%, mostadvantageously at least 50% (relating to the absorption time of purewater). Wetting agents are not penetration agents in the sense of theinvention. The absorption time is measured as the time in which a dropof the sealing liquid of a volume of 100 pl±5 pl applied onto the papermaterial has completely penetrated into the paper. The measurement ofthe absorption time, also called penetration time, is known from inkjetprinting technology, for example, reference for this is made to thecitation EP 1072653 A2.

It has been found that, in principle, all penetration agents that arealso used for aqueous inks in inkjet printing technology can also beused in the framework of the invention.

With the invention it is achieved that a sealing device must be adjustedonce to a basic setting of the dosage, whereby this basic setting can inpractice be the largest dose required for a reliable sealing under alloperating states coming into consideration (envelope with greatestabsorbency given adjusted equilibrium of the filling of the sponge). Anoverdosing (relative to the amount required for a good bonding) ofsealing liquid will then in fact ensue in a plurality of sealings;however this does not lead to the washing-outs described above since theexcessive sealing liquid quickly penetrates into the paper or cartonmaterial of the mail piece envelope under the action of the penetrationagent. As a result, all mail pieces fed to the sealing device arereliably sealed with this base setting without undesired washing-outsarising, and in fact independent of the material of the mail pieceenvelope or whether a sealing series has just started or has alreadyproceeded.

Suitable penetration agents are, for example, C1-8 alkyl esters of C1-8monocarbonic, dicarbonic, or tricarbonic acids, whereby the carbonicacid can be OH-substituted, in particular in the a position. Thecarboxyl groups can be completely or partially esterified. Otherpreferred penetration agents are C1-8 ethers von C1-8 polyols, wherebyat least one OH group of the polyol is not etherified. In particulardiols or triols are considered as polyols, whereby in the latter case 1or 2 OH groups can be etherified. C1-8 alkyl can be linear, branched,saturated or unsaturated. For example, methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl,butyl, isobutyl, tert-butyl, pentyl etc. are considered as C1-8 alkyl.C1-8 carbonic acids can be linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated.Formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, valeric acid,caproic acid, isobutyric acid, isovaleric acid, acrylic acid, crotonicacid etc. are considered as C1-8 carbonic acids. For example, glycolicacid, lactic acid, mandelic acid, malic acid, tartaric acid and citricacid are considered hydroxycarbonic acids. For example, 1,2-ethanediol,1,3-propanediol, 1,2-propanediol, 1,4-butanediol, 1,3-butanediol,1,2-butanediol, etc. are considered as diols. The polyol can compriseone or more ether groups. An example for such a polyol is2,2′-oxydiethanol (diethylene glycol). Not exclusively named as suitableconcrete compounds are: methyl lactate, ethyl lactate, propyl lactate,isopropyl lactate, malic acid diester, malic acid monoester, tartaricacid diester, tartaric acid monoester, ethylene glycol monomethylether,ethylene glycol monoethylether, ethylene glycol monopropylether,ethylene glycol monobutylether, diethylene glycol monomethylether,diethylene glycol monoethylether, diethylene glycol monopropylether,diethylene glycol monobutylether.

With regard to further suitable penetration agents, reference is madeonly as an example to the citations EP 1072653 A and the citations citedtherein, as well as to the citations DE 69628897 T2, U.S. Pat. No.5,674,314 A.

A sealing liquid according to the invention advantageously comprises awetting agent, in particular a surfactant wetting agent. The wettingagent can be selected from the group comprising “non-ionic surfactants,amphoteric surfactants, anionic surfactants, cationic surfactants,ricinoleic amide propyl betaine”. They are advantageously biodegradablesurfactants. Amphoteric surfactants are advantageous preferably usedsince surprisingly a particularly good wetting of the gumming istherewith achieved.

Furthermore, a sealing liquid can contain one or more of the followingadditional and/or auxiliary substances: stabilizers and/or buffers, dyesand/or aromatic substances. Naturally, biocides (for instance ParmetolA6 or cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) and/or fungicides can also beadded in a usual manner. Substances with authorization as foodadditives, such as food colors, citral, hexyl hexonate etc. areadvantageously considered as dyes and aromatic substances. Stabilizersand/or buffers stabilize components of the sealing liquid that can behydrolyzed. For instance, Na lactate is a suitable stabilizer or bufferfor lactate esters. In particular all typical normal salts such as Nalactate, NaCl, KCl etc. are considered as stabilizers or, respectively,buffers.

A sealing liquid according to the invention advantageously has thefollowing composition: a) 50 to 99.9% water by weight, b) 0.1 to 50.0%penetration agent by weight, c) 0 to 10.0% wetting agent by weight, d) 0to 10.0% stabilizers and/or buffers by weight, e) 0 to 5.0% dyes byweight, f) 0 to 1.0% aromatic substances by weight and g) 0 to 10.0%typical auxiliary substances by weight, and the components a) to g)always add up to 100% by weight. It can in particular be set up: a) 70to 99.0, in particular 80 to 99.0% water by weight, b) 1.0 to 30.0, inparticular 1.0 to 20% penetration agent by weight, c) 0 to 3.0, inparticular 0.01 to 1.0% wetting agent by weight, d) 0 to 3.0, inparticular 0.01 to 2.0% stabilizers and/or buffers by weight, e) 0 to2.0, in particular 0.00001 to 1.0% dyes by weight, f) 0 to 1.0, inparticular 0.00001 to 0.001% aromatic substances by weight and g) 0 to1.0, in particular 0 to 0.1% biocides and/or fungicides and/or othertypical auxiliary substances by weight.

A particularly preferred sealing liquid consists of 0.5 to 10% byweight, in particular 1 to 5% penetration agent by weight, in particulara C1-4 alkyl ester of a C1-C4α-hydroxycarbonic acid, for instance ethyllactate, 0.1 to 2% by weight, in particular 0.2 to 1% wetting agent byweight, in particular an amphoteric surfactant, 0 to 5% by weight, inparticular 0.5 to 2% by weight, stabilizer (for example Na lactate) and0 to 2% by weight, in particular 0.00001 to 0.1% by weight of furtheradditive or auxiliary substances such as dyes, biocides, fungicidesand/or aromatic substances.

The invention furthermore concerns the use of a sealing liquid describedin the preceding for sealing of mail pieces, whereby a flap providedwith a gumming of a mail piece envelope enclosing the mail piece ismoistened with the sealing liquid, and whereby the wetted flap is thenfolded and pressed against an opposed surface of the mail piece envelopeand thus the mail piece is sealed. The mail piece can in particular be aletter and the mail piece envelope can be a letter envelope. It ispreferred when the wetting of the gumming and the folding andpressing-down of the flap ensues automatically controlled in a letterclosing device. Purely as a precaution, however, it is noted that theadvantages according to the invention in principle also arise given amanual application of the sealing liquid.

The invention furthermore concerns the use of a sealing liquid accordingto the invention for fixing and/or closing a carton package, whereby anadhesive tape provided with a gumming is wetted with the sealing liquid,and whereby the wetted adhesive tape is applied to the carton package.It is understood that the side of the adhesive tape provided with thegumming is pressed down onto the carton.

The invention furthermore concerns a letter closing device with a tankcontaining a sealing liquid according to the invention, and with awetting rocker which is set up for discharge of sealing liquid from thetank and transfer of discharged sealing liquid onto the gumming of amail piece inserted into the letter closing device. A suitable letterclosing device is, for example, described in the citation DE 20 2004 011390 U1. The invention finally concerns a franking device with a letterclosing device according to the invention.

In the following the invention is described in more detail usingexamples merely representing embodiments.

EXAMPLE 1 Measurement of the Closing Time

Various sealing liquids were examined in the experiments described inthe following. A franking machine Jetmail from the companyFrancotyp-Postalia GmbH (DEU V 8.64A) with employed Powersealer wasused. For a simple changing of the sealing liquid, the hose feed fromthe reservoir container of the Powersealer was removed and held in a 10ml beaker with the sealing liquid to be tested. Given a change of thesealing liquid, a new sponge was always used in addition to rinsing ofthe hoses (service mode) and of the sponge receptacle.

The time needed by the letter envelope from the closer to thePowersealer is approximately 1.5 s. The point in time for the glue test(conditional upon the handling) is approximately 0.5 s from thePowersealer. The total time from wetting is thus at least 2 s. At thePowersealer the wetted flap is pressed down against the envelope onlyfor a fraction of a second. The time after which the envelope flap couldno longer be detached without destruction was determined from thewetting of the flap.

EXAMPLE 2 Measurement of the Absorption Time

The absorption time or, respectively, penetration time of the testedsealing liquids occurred in that a 0.5 μl drop, dosed from a disposablecapillary pipette (DESAGA GmbH, Germany, Article No. 120192), was placedon a letter envelope. Depending on the surface tension and/or wetting,the drop typically had a diameter of 1 to 2 mm. The time beginning withthe placement of the drop until the complete penetration of the sealingliquid into the paper (detectable by the vanishing gloss) was measured.For the purpose of better detection, 0.04% dye (acid rhodamine, Duasyn)by weight was added to the tested sealing liquids.

EXAMPLE 3 Implementation and Results of the Measurements for SealingLiquids According to the Invention and Comparison Sealing Liquids

The following letter envelopes which comprise distinctly different papermaterials was tested. Designated as letter envelope 1 is OEKO-PIROL 90White, window (229×324) mm, Order No. 71126/06/C4 2279 “OF Kuvermatic”,Otto Ficker AG, Germany. Designated as letter envelope 22 is “Bless ofRecycling”, window (235×125) mm, Order No. 7140383-3602203,environmental label 14/9823, 100% recovered paper. Designated as letterenvelope 108 is “POSTHORN” white, window C6/5 (229×114) mm, Order No.2526149, Bong (previously Schmidt Papier), Germany. Designated as letterenvelope 208 is “awamatic” high speed white, without window (229×324)mm, Art. No. 049080, automat envelopes by August Wegener GmbH & Co,Germany.

As commercially available sealing liquid, the following products wereused or comparison purposes: sealing liquid “FT” of the companyFrancoTech GmbH, Germany, “E-Z Seal” of the company Pitney Bowes, USAand “Quick Seal” preparation of the company Service Industries, USA, inthe form as sold in Canada.

Tested as penetration agents were: EGDA (ethylene glycol diactet),DEGMEE (diethylene glycol monoethylether), EL (ethyl lactate) and EGMBE(ethylene glycol monobutylether). All these substances are obtainablefrom the company Merck, Germany.

SW designates a sealing liquid according to the invention.

Used as auxiliary agents were: NaLac (sodium lactate solution 50%,Merck, Germany), TMN 6 (Tergitol TMN 6 non-ionic surfactant, Fluka,Germany), AM R 40 (ricinoleic amide propyl betaine, amphotericsurfactant sample, Degussa, Germany) and acid rhodamine BC 01 as a dye(Duasyn Merck).

Some measurement values regarding the surface tension (measured withKRÜSS K10ST ring tensometer) as well as the absorption time (which wereobtained on letter envelope 108) are shown in the table I. Onerecognizes that no correlation exists between surface tension andabsorption time. This proves that wetting agents per se are not alsosuitable as penetration agents and that penetration agents are importantas components. Furthermore, one recognizes that the commerciallyavailable products FT and Quick Seal have absorption times such as waterexhibits while sealing liquids according to the invention (DGMEE to SW)in contrast exhibit strongly reduced absorption times.

Absorption times for various letter envelopes are shown in the table II.One recognizes that strongly reduced absorption times compared to thecommercially available sealing liquids are consistently obtained withsealing liquids according to the invention, and in fact on all testedletter envelopes (n.d.=not determined, 301=termination of themeasurement after 5 min).

Finally, the wetting of the gum was tested, whereby for all sealingliquids with TMN 6 or AM R 40 good to very good wetting was consistentlydetermined.

Overall, very short absorption times are achieved given combination ofthe penetration agent with a wetting agent.

Sealing times of a sealing liquid according to the invention incomparison with water are shown in the table III. The sealing liquidaccording to the invention is 2% EL, 0.5% AM R 40 and 1.2% NaLac.Infinite designates a sealing not achieved within the measurement time.Measurements were made at 25° C. and 21% relative humidity.

TABLE I Surface tension Absorption time Sample [mN/m] [s] VE-water 71.5301 FT 56.8 301 Quick Seal 47.5 301 DEGMEE 20% 48.3 33 ELEMENT 6% 49.119 EGDA 15% 39.5 2.1 SW 35.1 14 AM R 40 0.5% 35.1 45

TABLE II Absorption times(s) for various envelopes Sample 1 22 108 208VE-water 301 301 301 301 FT 301 301 301 n.d. Quick Seal 301 301 301 n.d.E-Z Seal 301 301 301 n.d. EGDA 5% 97 184 35 n.d. EGDA 7% 12 41 4.8 n.d.EGDA 10% 2 17 4 n.d. EGDA 13% 1.5 3.7 2 n.d. EGDA 15% 1 4.7 2.1 n.d.DEGMEE 5% 301 301 301 n.d. DEGMEE 10% 165 139 89 n.d. DEGMEE 15% 113 13582 n.d. DEGMEE 20% 30 46 33 n.d. EL 3%, NaLac 1.2% 211 255 55 n.d. EL6%, NaLac 1.2% 108 134 19 n.d. EL 9%, NaLac 1.2% 20 25 8 n.d. EL 12%,NaLac 1.2% 5 19 5 n.d. EL 3.3%/NaLac 1.2%/ 0.7 1.1 0.9 n.d. TMN 6 0.5%EL 2.0%/NaLac 1.2%/ 35 24 14 34 AM R 40 0.5% EL 2.0%/AM R 40 0.5% 35 3124 47

TABLE III Envelope Water Sealing liquid   1 infinite 10 s  22 10 s  5 s108 10 s 10 s 208  8 s  5 s

1. A method for sealing an enclosure for placement in a delivery streamfor transporting the enclosure, said enclosure comprising an enclosurebody having an access opening therein for insertion of an item into theenclosure, and a closure element having dried gumming thereon, saidmethod comprising the steps of: wetting the dried gumming on the closureelement with a sealing liquid comprising 2% ethyl lactate by weight,0.5% rincinoleic amide propyl betaine amphoteric surfactant by weight,and 1.2% sodium lactate 50% solution, to produce a wetted closureelement; and positioning the wetted closure element over the accessopening in said enclosure body and pressing the wetted closure elementagainst said enclosure body to seal said access opening.
 2. A method asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said enclosure is an envelope comprising anenvelope body as said enclosure body and an envelope flap, connected tosaid envelope body, as said closure element, and wherein the step ofpositioning the wetted closure element over the access opening comprisesfolding the envelope flap over said envelope body and pressing theenvelope flap against said envelope body.
 3. A method as claimed inclaim 2 comprising folding the envelope flap over the envelope body andpressing the envelope flap against the envelope body automatically in anenvelope closing device.
 4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidenclosure body is a carton comprising carton flaps that fold to coversaid access opening, and wherein said closure element comprises gummedtape, and wherein the step of positioning the wetted closure elementover the access opening comprises placing the gummed tape over thecarton flaps that are positioned to cover said access opening, andpressing the gummed tape against said carton flaps.
 5. A method asclaimed in claim 1 wherein said sealing liquid additionally comprises atleast one substance selected from the group consisting of stabilizers,buffers, dyes, and aromatic substances.
 6. A method as claimed in claim1 wherein said sealing liquid additionally comprises: 50 to 96.3% waterby weight, 0 to 10.0% stabilizers and/or buffers by weight, 0 to 5.0%dyes by weight, 0 to 5.0% aromatic substances by weight and wherein saidethyl lactate, said rincinoleic amide propyl bentaine amphotericsurfactant, said 50% sodium lactate solution, said water, saidstabilizers and/or buffers, said dyes, and said aromatic substancesalways add to 100% by weight.
 7. A method as claimed in claim 1 whereinsaid sealing liquid additionally comprises: 70 to 96.3% water by weight,0 to 3.0% stabilizers and/or buffers by weight, 0 to 2.0% dyes byweight, 0 to 1.0% aromatic substances by weight, wherein said ethyllactate, said rincinoleic amide propyl bentaine amphoteric surfactant,said 50% sodium lactate solution, said water, said stabilizers and/orbuffers, said dyes, and said aromatic substances always add to 100% byweight.
 8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said sealing liquidadditionally comprises 80 to 96.27% water by weight, 0.01 to 2.0%stabilizers and/or buffers by weight, 0.01 to 1.0% dyes by weight, 0.01to 0.1% aromatic substances by weight, wherein said ethyl lactate, saidrincinoleic amide propyl bentaine amphoteric surfactant, said 50% sodiumlactate solution, said water, said stabilizers and/or buffers, saiddyes, and said aromatic substances always add to 100% by weight.